Kohlberg's Moral Development Stages PDF

Heinz dilemma A dilemma that psychologist Lawrence Kohlberg used in his original research was the druggist's dilemma: Heinz Steals the Drug In Europe. A woman was near death from a special kind of cancer. There was one drug that the doctors thought might save her. It was a form of radium that a dru...

Heinz dilemma A dilemma that psychologist Lawrence Kohlberg used in his original research was the druggist's dilemma: Heinz Steals the Drug In Europe. A woman was near death from a special kind of cancer. There was one drug that the doctors thought might save her. It was a form of radium that a druggist in the same town had recently discovered. The drug was expensive to make, but the druggist was charging ten times what the drug cost him to produce. He paid $200 for the radium and charged $2,000 for a small dose of the drug. The sick woman's husband, Heinz, went to everyone he knew to borrow the money, but he could only get together about $1,000 which is half of what it cost. He told the druggist that his wife was dying and asked him to sell it cheaper or let him pay later. But the druggist said: "No, I discovered the drug and I'm going to make money from it." So Heinz got desperate and broke into the man's store to steal the drug for his wife. Should Heinz have broken into the laboratory to steal the drug for his wife? Why or why not? Kohlberg's stages of moral development are planes of moral adequacy conceived by Lawrence Kohlberg to explain the development of moral reasoning. Created while studying psychology at the University of Chicago, it was inspired when he became fascinated with children's reactions to moral dilemmas through the work of Jean Piaget. He wrote his doctoral dissertation there in 1958, outlining what are now known as his stages of moral development. This theory holds that moral reasoning, which is the basis for ethical behavior, has six identifiable developmental stages. He followed the development of moral judgment beyond the ages originally studied by Piaget, who claimed that logic and morality develop through constructive stages. Kohlberg expanded considerably on this groundwork, determining that the process of moral development was principally concerned with justice and that its development continued throughout the lifespan, even spawning dialog of philosophical implications of his research. Kohlberg used stories about moral dilemmas in his studies, and was interested in how people would act if they were put in a similar moral crux. He would then categorize and classify evoked responses into one of six distinct stages. These six stages where broken into three levels: pre-conventional, conventional and post-conventional. His theory is based on constructive developmental stages; each stage and level is more adequate at responding to moral dilemmas than the last. Level 1 (Pre-Conventional) 1. Obedience and punishment orientation 2. Self-interest orientation ( What's in it for me?) Level 2 (Conventional) 3. Interpersonal accord and conformity ( The good boy/good girl attitude) 4. Authority and social-order maintaining orientation ( Law and order morality) Level 3 (Post-Conventional) 5. Social contract orientation 6. Universal ethical principles ( Principled conscience) Pre-Conventional The pre-conventional level of moral reasoning is especially common in children, although adults can also exhibit this level of reasoning. Reasoners in the pre-conventional level judge the morality of an action by its direct consequences. The pre-conventional level consists of the first and second stages of moral development, and are purely concerned with the self (egocentric). Conventional The conventional level of moral reasoning is typical of adolescents and adults. Persons who reason in a conventional way judge the morality of actions by comparing these actions to societal views and expectations. The conventional level consists of the third and fourth stages of moral development. Post-Conventional The post-conventional level, also known as the principled level, consists of stages five and six of moral development. Realization that individuals are separate entities from society now becomes salient. One's own perspective should be viewed before the society's. It is due to this 'nature of self before others' that the post-conventional level, especially stage six, is sometimes mistaken for pre-conventional behaviors. In Stage five, individuals are viewed as holding different opinions and values, and it is paramount that they be respected and honored impartially. Issues that are not regarded as relative like life and choice should never be withheld or inhibited. In fact, no single choice is correct or absolute – 'who are you to judge if they are or not'? Along a similar vein, laws are regarded as social contracts rather than rigid dictums. Those that do not promote general social welfare should be changed when necessary to meet the greatest good for the greatest number of people. This is attained through majority decision, and inevitably compromise. In this way democratic government is ostensibly based on stage five reasoning. In Stage six, moral reasoning is based on abstract reasoning using universal ethical principles. Laws are valid only insofar as they are grounded in justice, and that a commitment to justice carries with it an obligation to disobey unjust laws. Rights are unnecessary as social contracts are not essential for deontic moral action. Decisions are met categorically in an absolute way rather than hypothetically in a conditional way. This can be done by imagining what one would do being in anyone's shoes, who imagined what anyone would do thinking the same. The resulting consensus is the action taken.